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	<h2>Welcome to the 2007 and 3rd Annual South African Weblog awards.</h2>
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		<p>As you already know - the SA blog awards showcase the very best of South African independent web publishing in various categories.</p>
		<p>New categories for this year include: <span class='emphasize'>Best SA Music blog:</span> Best weblog about news of a musical nature, <span class='emphasize'>Best GLBT blog</span> - Best SA gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered blog and <span class='emphasize'>Best SA podcast:</span> The best independently produced video or audio podcast in SA.</p>
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	<h2 class="header">Changes to the way we find a winner</h2>
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		<p><b>This year the awards will work a little different to how we did things in the past to ensure that the results are as accurate and as fair as a possible.</b></p>
		<p>The final voting this year will be done by three different groups:</p>
			<ol>
				<li>YOU - the general blog reading public</li>
				<li>A small panel of 'celebrity' judges.</li>
				<li>A larger panel of South African bloggers selected by no other criteria than their passion for blogging.</li>
			</ol>
		<p>Each category will be judged by 2 panel bloggers (who's votes have a 10% weighting each), an assigned 'celebrity' judge (30% weighting) and the public vote (counting for 50% of the weighted average).</p>
		<p>The weighted scores from each will be totaled together to determine the final winners.</p>
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	<h2 class="header">Know this</h2>
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		<ul>
			<li>A "weblog" is defined as a page with dated entries.</li>
			<li>The contest is open to any weblogs that existed for a period of time during the year 2006, so weblogs that were  discontinued during 2006 are also eligible.</li>
			<li>Only one nomination form and one finalist voting form may be submitted per person.</li>
			<li>E-mail addresses are required to vote. You must use your own address and confirm the validation e-mail.</li>
			<li>If you attempt to submit a second ballot, your first one will be replaced.</li>
			<li>In the nomination phase:
				<ul>
					<li>URLs are required.</li>
					<li>The maximum number of weblogs you may nominate for a category is two (2) for most categories and three (3) for  Weblog of the Year.</li>
					<li>At least three (3) different weblogs total must be nominated.</li>
					<li>There is no limit to the number of categories a weblog may be nominated for.</li>
					<li>Nominees have to fit the category they are placed in.</li>
				</ul>
			</li>
		</ul>
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	<h2 class="header">The 2007 categories</h2>
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		<p>Blogs can compete for the top honours in the following categories:</p>
		<ul>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>South African weblog of the year</span> - The best of the best from SA</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Best SA entertainment blog</span> - Weblogs about movies, television, celebrities, theater and topical issues with entertainment value.</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Most humourous South African blog</span> - witty, comical and written to induce uncontrollable laughter.</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Best post on a South African blog</span> - The one post which stood out in 2006.</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Best overseas South African blog</span> - Best blog written by a South African in any foreign country</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Best writing on a South African blog</span> - composition, attention to detail, advanced levels of subject investigation.</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Best SA blog about politics</span> - The best SA blog featuring mainly a political theme.</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Best SA photographic blog</span> - The best SA blog featuring original photographic content.</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Best new blog</span> - Best blog which was started during the year of 2006</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Best SA blog about food</span> - The best blog written primarily about food or drink</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Best SA blog about tech / computers / web development</span> - Best South African technology focused weblog</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Best SA Music blog</span> - Best weblog about news of a musical nature.</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Best GLBT blog</span> - Best SA gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered blog.</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Best designed SA blog</span> - Best overall design and layout of a weblog page.</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Best SA podcast</span> - The best independently produced video or audio podcast in SA.</li>
			<li><span class='emphasize'>Best SA business blog</span> - The best blog covering topics relating the the world of entrepreneurship, small business marketing, advertising, Web 2.0 trends and other remarkable news.</li>
		</ul>
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	<h2 class="header">How it's going to work</h2>
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		<p><b>Nominations</b> - Completed</p>
		<h3>Voting</h3>
		<p>Final voting will be open to the public from the Tuesday 6 March 2007 till midnight Friday 16 March 2007.</p>
		<p>Once again, only one vote per email address will be accepted.</p>
		<p>Voters will be asked to review the ten blogs per category in the finals and vote for their favourite blog in each.</p>
		
		<h3>What about prizes?</h3>
		<p>Apart from the honour of being the best, the winner of the <b>South African Weblog of the Year</b> will win a purse of 2007 South African cents (R20.07).</p>
		
		<h4>Sponsored Prizes</h4>
		<p>Also,contributors can donate their own prizes to the category of their choice, and if the contributor has a site, it will be linked from this page. If the contributor is going to awards ceremony, he/she can also have the privilege of announcing/presenting the category sponsored at the ceremony. To donate one, the contributor can bring it to event, mail it to the winner, or send an online gift certificate or cash to the winner.</p>
		<ul>
			<li><b>South African Weblog of the Year:</b> Apple MacBook Pro courtesy of <a href='http://www.storm.co.za' title='Storm.co.za'>www.storm.co.za</a>.</li>
			<li><b>South African Weblog of the Year and the two runners up:</b> A copy of World Wide Worx's research report, 'Internet Access in South Africa 2007', authored by Arthur Goldstuck, valued at R7500.</li>
			<li><b>South African Weblog of the Year:</b> <a href='http://Mobile-QandA.com' title='MobileQandA'>MobileQandA</a> will give the 2nd top left button on the home page to the winner for month of April - valued at R5k - great exposure for the winning blogger.</li>
			<li><b>Best writing on a South African blog:</b> Copy of Arthur Goldstruck's book 'The ghost that closed down the town' <b>and</b> a R200 Kalahari gift voucher sponsored by <a href='http://cooksister.typepad.com/' title='Cooksister'>Cooksister</a>.</li>
			<li><b>Best GLBT blog, Best SA Photographic Blog, Best SA Podcast and Best Food Blog:</b> A t-shirt from <a href='http://www.e2fashion.co.za' title='eSquared'>eSquared (www.e2fashion.co.za)</a>.</li>
			<li><b>Best GLBT blog and Best SA blog about politics:</b> a copy of <a href='http://www.tertia.org' title='Tertia.org'>tertia.org</a>'s book 'So Close'.</li>
			<li><b>Best SA Music blog and Best designed SA blog:</b> 1 iPod Nano each courtesy of <a href='http://www.cerebra.co.za' title='Cerebra'>Cerebra</a>.</li>
		</ul>
		<p>Send us an e-mail through our <b><a href='<?php echo HTTP_SERVER; ?>contact' title='Contact SA Blog Awards'>contact form</a></b> to get your prize added. Sorry, "to be announced" prizes to reserve categories won't be accepted. I'll send out a list of winner's e-mails to the contributors after they're announced, but all other prize arrangements will be handled by their respective donators.</p>
		
		<h3>Prize giving</h3>
		<p>The South African Weblog awards ceremony will take place in Johannesburg on Friday, 30th March 2007. Please note - there will be no Cape Town event.</p>
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	<h2 class="header">The Blogger Panel Judges</h2>
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		<p>Elected for no other reason than their passion for the subject. <br />Just to be sure, none of them were given the choice to vote in a category their own blogs were nominated.</p>
		<ul>
			<li>Rich...!</li>
			<li>The Muso</li>
			<li>Wayne Wides</li>
			<li>Mike Stopforth</li>
			<li>Martin</li>
			<li>Peas</li>
			<li>Coda</li>
			<li>Craig Jamieson</li>
			<li>Aquila</li>
			<li>Rox</li>
			<li>Scott Gray</li>
			<li>Matthew Buckland</li>
			<li>Dave Duarte</li>
			<li>Rafiq Phillips</li>
			<li>Cherryflava</li>
			<li>Victoire</li>
		</ul>
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	<h2 class="header">Get your Vote for Me widget here.</h2>
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		<p><b>NB: </b>If your blog is listed as a finilist below, you can get a <b>vote for me widget</b> to put on your blog. To do this please <a href='http://2007.sablogawards.com/contact' title='Contact Us'>contact us</a> and we'll email you back with the proper code to put in your blog. Thanks.</p>
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